In this piece, ENIOLA AKINKUOTU writes that the internal crisis in the All Progressives Congress has become a blessing to the Peoples Democratic Party
Nigeria’s longest ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party, woke up to a shocking defeat on March 31, 2015 when it lost the Presidency, and control of the National Assembly for the first time in 16 years. Again, there was no respite for the party on April 11, when it performed woefully at the governorship and House of Assembly elections.
The outcome of the general election implied that Nigeria’s new ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, would dominate the political space for the next four years with 22 governors out of 36. At the Senate, the APC has 60 senators as opposed to the PDP’s 49 while in the House of Representatives, the APC has 225 out of 360 representatives.
Hundreds of APC supporters celebrated the party’s electoral victory with mock coffins bearing the umbrella logo of the PDP with the inscription ‘Rest in Peace’. Expectedly, scores of PDP heavyweights across the country defected to the APC to the extent that the APC leadership had to warn politicians to stop defecting. The APC, it seemed, was in pole position to rule Nigeria for another 16 years.
However, the saying that a house divided against itself cannot stand came to play on June 9 during the elections of key leaders at the National Assembly. The elections led to a fiasco at the national legislature as the APC, through dissention in its ranks, inadvertently gave the PDP a lifeline.
Before the inauguration of the National Assembly on June 9, the APC, led by its National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had picked the lawmaker representing Yobe-North senatorial district, Senator Ahmed Lawan, as its candidate for the Senate Presidency and Senator George Akume as the deputy. At the lower chamber of the National Assembly, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila was favoured to be the Speaker while Mohammed Monguno was tipped as his deputy at separate shadow elections.
The decision of the party was, however, rejected by some APC lawmakers and the party became a divided house. Subsequently, two camps emerged at the Senate: The Unity Forum led by Lawan , and the ‘Like Minds senators’ led by Senator Bukola Saraki.
The PDP, therefore, capitalised on the conflict within the APC as it threw its weight behind Saraki. The leadership of the APC, which got wind of the PDP’s plot, quickly called an emergency meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari and 51 of its senators. Unfortunately for the party, the meeting coincided with the inauguration of the National Assembly.
The absence of the 51 senators implied that 49 PDP senators and nine other APC senators were in the chamber during the election of the principal officers. In the end, Saraki emerged the Senate President to the chagrin of the APC. To rub salt on the wound, Senator Ike Ekweremadu of the PDP emerged the Deputy Senate President due to the PDP having a higher number of senators in the chamber at the time of the election.
The story was the same in the House of Representatives as Mr. Yakubu Dogara, who was not the choice of the party, emerged the Speaker while Yusuf Lasun emerged as his deputy as opposed to Monguno.
Although the APC still controls the National Assembly, the manner in which the principal officers were picked seems to have thrown a spanner in the works. This is because the new leaders of the National Assembly owe their victories to the PDP and not the APC.
Saraki and Dogara were members of the PDP until early last year and still have strong ties to the party. Also, the emergence of Ekweremadu as the deputy senate president implies that the PDP’s interest will always be protected in the National Assembly.
Furthermore, the APC has now been divided into two camps: One led by Tinubu and the other led by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who was said to have played a key role in Saraki’s victory.
A former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Bode George, told our correspondent that the National Assembly elections had given the PDP a lifeline, adding that the party’s quest to regain power in 2019 had begun. George described the APC as ‘strange bedfellows’ that would soon disintegrate.
“The PDP was never dead. We were only given a bloodied nose, not a technical knockout. So, this is an opportunity to start regrouping and getting ready for 2019. I want to salute the dexterity and perfect political manoeuvres for which the PDP is well known,” he said.
George said the APC, being a merger of four political parties, would continue to have problems and the PDP would continue to take advantage of such disagreements just as it did in the National Assembly internal election.
He said the PDP would work with the assumption that Buhari would not seek a second term in 2019. George said the PDP would present a strong northern presidential candidate who would be able to neutralise the APC’s massive support base in the North while also exploiting its own support in the South-East and the South-South geopolitical zones.
He said, “I don’t want to speculate but I believe that due to President Buhari’s age, he is not likely to stand for a re-election in 2019. I don’t know but I don’t think he will try it because he will be about 76 by then. Even former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar will be a bit too old to contest in 2019 because he is 68 years old now.
“So, the younger generation of northerners such as former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and former Katsina State Governor, Ibrahim Shema, as well as a few others, will be contenders. Most of them were PDP governors but defected to the APC except Shema who still remains a PDP member.
“So, the moment the position of the national chairman of our party is zoned away from the North, we will look for a strong politician that will be able to manage the resources of the nation. Once we create that atmosphere, once the next contestants present themselves, I believe that our next presidential candidate will come from the North.”
A former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, said the events of June 9 at the National Assembly has put the PDP at a vantage point.
Fani-Kayode, who was the spokesperson for former President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign organisation said, “It is clear that without the support of the PDP senators, Bukola Saraki could not have emerged as Senate President.
“With the June 9 events in the Senate, it is clear that the PDP is on the rise again. Both Ekweremadu and David Mark have been elected to key positions in the new Senate. We thank God.”
Ekweremadu said the PDP would continue to exploit the conflict within the APC to its advantage. He said by so doing, the PDP would regain power in 2019.
He said, “We are ready to work with the APC and Buhari if they want to. But if they are interested in fighting the National Assembly, we will help them.
“If they want to work for the poor, we will help them. We will help them to reduce corruption and improve security to ensure a better Nigeria. But, so long as they want to chase shadows, we will help them. For us in the PDP, we have four years to come back to power because we are involved.”
The APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has, however, stated that the party will resolve its internal crisis, and has even recognised Saraki and Dogara as the Senate President and Speaker respectively.
Although both Saraki and Dogara have vowed to remain in the APC, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has stated that since the APC has failed to have its way in the National Assembly coupled with the PDP’s influence in the legislature, the APC’s promise of change would be more difficult to deliver.
The immediate past Senate President, Senator David Mark, had said, shortly before the National Assembly leadership elections, that the PDP must remain united for the next four years if it must wrest power from the APC. The PDP abided by this by voting in unison last week and emerged victorious. The party might thus continue with this ‘winning formula’.
In contrast, the APC is more disunited than ever and if the status quo persists, Nigeria’s ‘broom party’ might be swept away even before 2019. Needless to say, how the APC handles its internal affairs will go a long way in determining the outcome of the 2019 general elections.
Many might argue that 2019 is still very much far away but every astute politician knows that four years is a very short time in the life of a nation. After all, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a step.
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